Indie showcase Day of the Devs becomes fully independent, announcing fundraiser for future shows

In-game screenshots from the Viewfinder video game
(Image credit: Sad Owl Studios)

Day of the Devs has announced that it has gone fully independent and become a non-profit through a fiscal sponsorship partnership with charity planning organization Legacy Global. 

Established in 2012 by game developer Double Fine and merchandising company iam8bit, Day of the Devs is a recurring festival that showcases some of the best upcoming indie games via both digital and in-person events.

Day of the Devs describes its overall mission as one “to celebrate the creativity, diversity and magic of video games, give a voice to emerging or underrepresented talent, and to connect players with developers, and their games.”

This is achieved through new trailers and playable demos that are provided completely free of charge for both developers and gamers. The line up of games featured in past years has included gems like Viewfinder and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and the festival seems like a fantastic way to help raise awareness about some of the titles on the horizon.

Now that it's fully independent, Day of the Devs has cut its ties with Double Fine, which was purchased by Microsoft back in 2019. The festival states this will help reaffirm their “commitment to being 100% platform agnostic”.

Day of the Devs

(Image credit: Day of the Devs)

Along with the news, Devs of Devs also confirmed three upcoming events: Day of the Devs 2024: San Francisco Edition, Day of the Devs 2024: GDC Edition, and Day of the Devs 2024: GDC Edition. These will take place across the rest of the year, in a combination of both in-person and digital formats.

Running multiple free events does not come cheap, however, and Day of the Devs has also announced a fundraiser to help operations continue. Those who donate $100 will receive VIP access to two upcoming events in addition to bonus Steam copies of a number of games that have been featured in the festival.

Those who donate $250 or above will receive an additional box of Day of the Devs merchandise including an official mug, socks, and a keychain. You can make a donation or view a full list of rewards on the Day of the Devs website

Enjoy indie gaming? See our guides to the best indie games or the best indie horror games for recommendations.

Dashiell Wood
Hardware Writer

Dash is TechRadar Gaming's Hardware Writer. Before joining TechRadar, he was a print journalist writing articles for some of the UK's biggest gaming magazines including PLAY, Edge, PC Gamer, and SFX. Now, when he's not getting his greasy little mitts on the newest hardware or gaming gadget, he can be found feverishly devouring the latest Nintendo Switch otome.